Semi Permanent use of 'Test' plugs....

[TFGtv]

No doubt everyone's familiar with these little red neon type socket testers.....

CED Plug in Socket Tester - Screwfix.com, Where the Trade Buys

I run a video production company. Our crews have literally dozens of these in their shooting kits as obviously we need to do what we can to test that the installation at a given location is safe and correctly wired before plugging in. It's standard practice...

Now; we generally have one for each individual lighting kit. That consisting of three lamps, stands and a four-way trailing socket. Invariably the testers are left plugged into the four-ways. And to be honest are quite handy that way as...

1) They stop anyone else on site plugging into our extensions. Important since we have to be careful about how we load a circuit ( three red-head lamps pull 2400W for instance)

2) They function as quite a handy 'power up' indicator. Useful in places where multiple circuits are controlled from some distance away...

Now; apart from running a little warm (They ARE neons and not LEDs) they don't seem to pose any issues. and it's been suggested that we glue them in place to save theft and absolutely block people from piggybacking off our supply. Can anyone see any problems, either practical, safety or regulatory with running these on a semi-permanent basis as suggested?

TIA
Matt Quinn

 

[Guest123]

Hey.

Do you not have to have your trailing leads pat-tested??

 

[TFGtv]

Yup! Absolutely EVERYTHING on the lighting rigs gets PAT tested every 3 months!

But as we've no control over the state of the supply at locations we're visiting we need to back that up by doing at least a rudimentary test....

 

[Guest123]

I absolutely agree with testing the supply at sites to make sure it's safe before you plug in, but would advise against glueing it in position as this will give false readings on a pat test and may even cause you problems with the lead in the future.

Cheers.

 

[TFGtv]

Hmm yeah... The thought did occur and we've tried running a PAT test on a lead with one it... It doesn't throw up any issues.... I had a notion the insulation test would damage the test plug, but no.....